Not sure but I have been hearing complaints lately that quince is hard to graft, maybe it is the timing etc. Is that you that keeps saying that?

It could be that it has special needs that go unnoticed by most fruit growers. If there is anything odd about its grafting needs, I bet Joe Postman would be onto it. I would give him a call and ask.

Other than that I grafted 4 yearlings a year ago, and 3 of them grew into three and four foot whips. They were grafted as soon as I saw budding action, and I think they bud out before apples and pears, in other words, pretty early in the season. Perhaps first of March. Not sure as I didn't record the graft date anywhere.

What kind are you trying to graft? I will have an extra Smyrna at the end of this season if you are interested. Right now it is in the ground. I liked it because it was so disease resistant and had all the great smell.

I want to try aging apples in the presence of these fruits. Heard the apples would take on the aroma. Cool eh?

Mon May 25, 2009 12:22 am

John S

Joined: Sun May 15, 2005 10:57 amPosts: 1406Location: Portland, OR

Re: Grafting tree quince (Cydonia oblonga)?

I think the timing is part of it. They came closer this year when I grafted them earlier. Also, the only one that seems to be taking is one off a very small quince seedling, so that may be a factor too. I bet the commercial guys only graft onto small seedlings and that may be what I need to do.John SPDX, OR

Mon May 25, 2009 9:05 pm

jafarj

Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2007 1:21 pmPosts: 428Location: SW Washington

Re: Grafting tree quince (Cydonia oblonga)?

My first quince graft was onto a rootstock I got from the HOS class. I bench grafted it with a very crappy whip and tongue and then I think I may have stuck the whole thing in the fridge for a while. The scion had some ice on it before I grafted it and was showing bumps like it wanted to root.

In other words, I don't think I treated it very well. But the tree did great. Its the one I've shown pictures of in full bloom in its second and now third season.

I've also grafted 4 or 5 varieties of quince with scions from the exchange onto my European pear tree of unknown variety. I believe they all took and thrived. The Aromatnaya produced several excellent fruit the next year. I think those were all bark grafts tied with a grafting rubber and then wrapped from just beyond the cut to the tip of the scion in parafilm.

John, My seedlings are pencil size or better when decapitated for grafting -- not all that big.

I put some medlars and a Seker Gevrek quince on them a few weeks ago. Nothing happened until this hot weather started up, now they are all bursting through the Doc Farwells.

I think you may have had a mishap somewhere, but that if you tried it again and kept them watered and fertilized, you would see results equivalent to pears and apples. I think it helps to keep all adventitous suckers rubbed off too. Are yours in full sunlight? Mine aren't. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Grafted quinces grow vegetatively for the first year, then all they want to do after that is flower. I had to pick all the flowers off these quinces going into their second season so I could get some decent upright growth.

Here is the bio on Seker Gevrek from Peoria Road repository:

A non-astringent quince cultivar; matures early October in Turkey and can be stored until February. The cultivar name means Sweet and Crispy in Turkish. 'Sekergevrek' means 'crackly sweet'

Edit: am doing either bark grafts or whip and tongues on these. Both seem good. If you have more scions, give 'er a try right now and paint the whole scion with glue to seal in the moisture. Beings there is no rain right now, I bet you could get away using school glue, like the elmers kind. I don't see why it could not work decently in dry weather. Slather it on richly.

Sat May 30, 2009 7:15 pm

John S

Joined: Sun May 15, 2005 10:57 amPosts: 1406Location: Portland, OR

Re: Grafting tree quince (Cydonia oblonga)?

There are only three conclusions I can think of. One is that it grafts easily to small rootstock (benchgrafting). The only one I grafted to equivalently small rootstock took, and the others to big plants didn't take. The second is that Crimea is an especially difficult variety to graft. The third is that I have to time the graft better. When I grafted too late I got nothing. When I grafted early I got something but it fizzled out. I'm going to try more grafts to small rootstock, like benchgrafting. Almost all of my grafts were to tree sized plants. One thing different about quince than apples or pears is that they will grow from cuttings on their own roots to become trees.

Oh another one I thought about: the one that took was in shade. Thanks for your responses. I am going to slowly eliminate each possiblity.John SPDX OR

On a lark I put a couple of invisible buds from a quince cutting (Smyrna) whip and tongue to a potted hawthorn that I thought had died, but was still alive, about mid-July. Those invisible buds on the quince scion pushed the top bud through the Doc farwells, and now has several leaves in the air and HOT sun!

Who was it that told me to try quince on hawthorn?

Not sure how the union would function in early spring or with dormant scions stored over winter in the refrigerator for July grafting, but this one did take.

Also used layers of toilet paper for the first time ever to keep UV rays off the rubber wrapping. Theory being that if one forgets to remove it, winter rains will assist that.Toilet paper winds around the graft okay, then just wet it a little with water and it almost turns to a paper-mache' product that you can snug up to the grafting rubber real nicely. Think I'll continue using that product for grafting. Gotta add a TP roll dispenser to the side of my grafting tray now!

Sat Aug 04, 2012 3:30 pm

John S

Joined: Sun May 15, 2005 10:57 amPosts: 1406Location: Portland, OR

Re: Grafting tree quince (Cydonia oblonga)?

I had a little more success this year. Kaunching took twice on crimea rootstock, although it fizzled out on others. Kuganskaya took but fizzled out.

Aromatnaya started to take but fizzled out. They were only small cuttings.

I had more takes of pear onto aronia than quince onto anything.

I may have some disease pressure because I've been growing a fairly disease ridden variety (Crimea) for years.

I am going to bud quince this summer to see if it has a higher take ratio.John SPDX OR

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